Ghost shrimp reproducing in a FW tank?

[richberstler]

I could have sworn I read somewhere, here or elsewhere, ghost shrimp will only breed in brackish water.... or more specifically the eggs or babies would not survive. After reading the AC article now on GS it doesn't mention that at all.

I always had to buy new ones every few months for the tank(s) where my RCS were in too much carnal danger. But whaaaaa?!?!

I'm walking past my one tank this evening and I see 3 smaller masses bolt to the back of the tank. After taking a closer look I see medium sized GS. Maybe the size of the smallest one I bought a couple months ago, which by now should be full adult about 1 inch.

So now I'm wondering what happened. Is it possible they did actually breed and survive? Anyone with experience on this?

[korith]

Part of their development requires them to be in brackish water. Ghost shrimp go thru a larval stage which can make raising them that much more difficult. Another problem is there are many types of shrimp that just get tossed into the 'ghost shrimp' name in stores, so there very well may be some that will be able to reproduce in your tank. You may find stores that sell ghost shrimp as feeder shrimp. If you really want to stick with ghost shrimp, the stores that sell them as feeder shrimp usually sell them cheap, $1-2 for a dozen.

Personally I would just go with red cherry shrimp and breed them. A lot less effort since they do not go thru a benthic stage after hatching. Though if up for a challenge set up a brackish ghost shrimp would be a good learning experience.

[richberstler]

That just confuses me more.

I love my RCS and they do breed. I only buy ghost for my tanks that need bigger shrimp so they are not food. But again I NEVER expected ghost to breed but it seemed to happen. I'm happy about it, if that's possible to breed in total FW. Now you are saying the same thing I thought, it's not possible. lol aquariums are so strange sometimes

[genocidex]

well theres a load of things that could happen. some shrimp are similar to RCS in their breeding habits. sometimes when a breeder has multiple shrimps on the same tank, they will cross breed. since the color is a recessive trait the color just disappears. thus they are less wanted. so they pack these shrimp up as ghost shrimp and send them out for food, IE culling them...

[korith]

That just confuses me more.

I love my RCS and they do breed. I only buy ghost for my tanks that need bigger shrimp so they are not food. But again I NEVER expected ghost to breed but it seemed to happen. I'm happy about it, if that's possible to breed in total FW. Now you are saying the same thing I thought, it's not possible. lol aquariums are so strange sometimes

Well it's possible they might breed, the thing is the ghost shrimp you have may not really be ghost shrimp. Could be some sort of grass shrimp or glass shrimp or something else entirely that will breed in fw. Problem is there are many names out there and similar looking shrimp that get lumped into the name ghost shrimp.

[richberstler]

Good point made especially clear by googling glass shrimp. I was under the impression the pointy hump back what ghost only. That would explain things. Thanks for the input everyone.